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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-13 Daily Xml
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Unclaimed Goods (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (16:58): I move:

That bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to introduce the Unclaimed Goods (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2025. The bill makes much-needed updates to the Unclaimed Goods Act 1987, primarily aimed at modernisation and easing the regulatory burden of businesses and others who hold goods on bailment.

When a person comes into possession of goods belonging to another, it is expected that they retain and take responsible care and reasonable care of the goods pending their collection by the owner. The act prescribes a process by which the person in possession of the goods (currently referred to in the act as 'the bailee') may lawfully sell or dispose of goods that are abandoned or have not been collected by their owner (referred to in the act as 'the bailor').

A bailee who disposes of unclaimed goods without the consent of the bailor, and who does not follow the process set out in the act, risks the bailor taking legal action against them. The act may have application in a wide variety of circumstances—for example, where goods are left with a business by a customer for a specific purpose, such as for inspection, storage, cleaning, repair or other treatment, where goods are given to a friend or family member for temporary safekeeping or where goods are abandoned on a premises, such as in a private car park, or are left behind by a former housemate or employee.

A person in possession of goods belonging to another may be considered a bailee under the act, even if they did not agree to the bailment. In certain circumstances there may be other lawful ways for a bailee to dispose of uncollected goods; for example, the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 provides a process for landlords to dispose of property that has been abandoned by a tenant after the landlord regains possession of the premises. The act does not affect a bailee's right to dispose of goods in accordance with any other act.

Since the commencement of the act in 1987, the legislation has remained substantially unchanged; however, over that almost 40-year period there have been significant advancements in electronic communications, as well as changes in the way that businesses and consumers interact.

The government has also received repeated feedback that the waiting periods prescribed in the act, which require unclaimed goods to be retained for lengthy periods of time, place an unreasonable burden on businesses and other bailees and that the notice requirements and prescribed methods for disposing of unclaimed goods are overly cumbersome resulting in undue cost and inconvenience.

If the regulatory burden imposed by the act is too onerous, bailees may be discouraged from acting in accordance with the law, despite any risk of legal action. On the other hand, bailors may have legitimate reasons for failing to collect goods or being uncontactable. It is therefore necessary for the legislation to maintain appropriate levels of protection for bailors of goods.

The bill makes a number of changes to modernise the act and to ensure that the processes prescribed under the act are reasonable, practicable and readily understood. The language in the act is updated in the bill, including replacement of the term 'bailee' with 'recipient' to refer to a person who is left in possession of goods, and replacement of the term 'bailor' with 'provider' to refer to a person who leaves goods in the possession of another. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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